Local businesses flock to Northampton Academy to help mentor students
Northampton Academy recently welcomed a number of business organisations and education mentors to run careers workshops with Year 10 and Year 12 students as part of the school’s ‘Maximise Your Potential’ Day.
The workshops ran all day in various locations around the school covering topics such as personal development, interview skills, negotiation, team-building and confidence in careers and were led by top local, regional and national businesses.
Students relished the opportunity to fine tune their interview skills with business and educational establishments such as Travis Perkins, Opus Energy, Smurfit Kappa, Barclaycard, The British Army, The University of Northampton and many more.
Karen Betty, the Careers and Enterprise manager at Northampton Academy who organised the event, said:
“’Maximise Your Potential Day’ is part of the Academy’s six-month learning programme on career development for Year 10 and it was an excellent and invaluable opportunity for them to put theory into practice, as with the Year 12 students who also took part. We were delighted to see so many business volunteers sharing their career expertise and pathways knowledge to guide students towards the important decisions they will make Post-16.
“We have received lots of really positive e-mails back from the businesses that took part. Following the event, we are also very pleased that Siemens want to work with a group of prospective engineers from Northampton Academy and that Opus Energy is employing a number of our student ambassadors over the summer holidays.
“On behalf of everyone at the academy, I would like to thank all the visitors that gave their time for this event which was well received by all involved and an amazing learning experience for our students.”
Vanessa Kirk, a representative from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which was one of the employers taking part in the careers day, commented:
“It really was an amazing day and I got lots out of it, so I hope the pupils did too. I haven’t been into a school for many years now and I could tell what a top rated place the Academy is the moment I walked in the door. The ambassadors were all very professional and welcoming and the pupils were engaged and were a total pleasure to work with.
“Lots of the students I worked with on a one to one basis had many fantastic ideas and strengths that could match those of an older more mature student. I can tell lots of hard work has gone into making this event happen and I think it has really paid off.”
Students came to school smartly dressed in business clothes ready for the day and enjoyed the chance to practise a range of professional skills which will be critical for impressing prospective universities, employers, colleagues and clients.
Dexter Maywaka, a Year 10 student enthused: “I really enjoyed the day as it gave me the chance to meet lots of different employers and find out about different roles within a company. The mock interviews were quite scary to start with, but I took the feedback from the first interview and used it in my second one. Dressing in a suit made me more aware of how it is in the business world and the employer said that he would have offered me the job if I’d been applying to him at that time.”
